Stump Head of Sad Jesus (Gone)
Gulfport, Mississippi
During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a lightning bolt blasted an oak tree next to the house of the Rev. Henry Marshall. He let the tree stand for many years (his wife refused to have it taken down), then had a vision of its stump transforming into the head of Jesus.
The reverend hired Dave Perez, a local chainsaw artist, who cut the tree down to a six-foot-high stump, then carved it into a gaunt, wide-eyed Jesus head with a crown of thorns and a big teardrop. The head was completed in early 2013, and the Rev. Marshall welcomes the public to visit and take pictures.
As Perez was carving the head, a passerby (who claimed to be a pastor) told him that Jesus's crown had 72 thorns in it. So that's how many thorns Perez carved into the sculpture.